Friday, January 14, 2011

Obama's $1 Billion Re-Election Campaign (and Ben Tells Us There Is No Inflation)

After the "kick-off event" in Arizona, the Obama team may be planning to raise $1 billion for his re-election campaign.

Yes, re-election, campaign - as if two years of doing just that is not enough. Two more years of campaigning to get four more years in office, during which I have no doubt he will continue campaigning for the sake of campaigning. (Or he may want to imitate FDR.)

Washington Post reports:

Will President Obama be the first billion-dollar man?

He raised and spent $750 million in the 2008 campaign, and there is already speculation that the cash-collection operation for his 2012 reelection bid will crest the once-unimaginable sum of $1 billion raised. (That's a one and nine zeros. Nine!)

"It's not unrealistic at all, given the amount raised and spent in 2008 and the amount Republican interest groups and 527s will spend against him," said a former Obama administration official.


(What the hell is 527s, you ask? It is a tax-exempt organization set up to influence the nomination, election, appointment and defeat of candidates for public office. Nice, isn't it?)

In the 2007-8 presidential campaign, Obama declined the public campaign financing so that he could raise and spend as much as he wanted. He ended up raising $745 million.

Judging by the way he spends (the national debt has increased 36% or by $3.33 trillion since he took office), $1 billion campaign money is just about right. It represents 34% increase.

The Obamas are used to blowing millions for their luxurious, taxpayer-subsidized vacations. I'm sure the nation can handle his incessant campaigning (that's what's planned for him by his White House handler, Valerie "slum lord" Jarrett), as it has endured in the past 2 years.

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